Photographic solution pouch



March 17, 1964 H. E. RAMM PHOTOGRAPHIC SOLUTION POUCH Filed 001;. 16,1961 V 6 VA INVENITOR 4 HERBERT E. RAMM -BY ATTOR NEY United StatesPatent 3,125,273 PHGTOGRAIHIC SOLUTION PQUCH Herbert E. Ramm, Newton,N1, assignor to Anken Chemical & Film Corporation, Newton, NJ. FiledOct. 15, 1961, Ser. No. 145,324 3 Claims. (Cl. 22-3.5)

This invention relates generally to pouches for containing a liquid,and, particularly, to pouches for containing an alkaline solution, suchas a photographic developer, with a minimum of chemical change due tothe properties of the pouch; and for containing such a solution, whennecessary, under considerable pressure.

The general object of the invention is to provide a novel pouch forcontaining an alkaline solution, such as a photographic developer orprocessing fluid, with a minimum of reaction between the walls of thepouch and the solution; and for insulating the solution against oxygenof air outside the pouch; and for withstanding considerable hydrostaticpressures developed in the solution by forces outside the pouch tendingto collapse it.

A particular object of the invention is to provide such a pouch suitablefor use in connection with, or as part of, photocopying anddiffusion-transfer apparatus. In such use the solution encountered isalkaline, and is susceptible to deterioration by oxidation; and, atleast in part, the solution is alternately introduced into the pouch,usually by gravity, for purposes of storage and protection, andliterally squeezed out of the pouch by mechanical pressures applied tothe outside thereof. Usually, of course, the solution is in storage; itis in use for photographic and ditfusion-transfer purposes only arelatively small percentage of the time.

For such use the pouch is required to have adequate inlet and outletmeans, which may be selectively sealed or opened; the inside of thepouch is required to be relatively inert to alkalis; and the walls ofthe pouch are required to have relatively high tensile strength towithstand the hydrostatic pressures occasionally developed in thecontained solution, and relatively high resistivity to gaseous diffusionto insulate the solution from ambient atmospheric oxygen. Theserequirements are features provided by the invention.

The pouch, with the features set forth above, may also serve by itselfas a means for packaging, storing, and preserving an alkaline solution.The provision of such means is another particular object of theinvention.

Whether the pouch is to be used for the purposes of packaging, storing,and preserving an alkaline solution,

, the purposes set forth above with relationship to photocopy anddiffusion-transfer apparatus, or for both sets of purposes, it isanother object to provide a pouch of the general class described havingan inlet and outlet tube extending therefrom and means for selectivelysealing and opening the tube. This last mentioned object includes theprovision of a tube having an internal flange at its outer end and asealing device which is a removable hermetically-sealing cap adapted toengage the outside of the tube and having a concentric and integral plugfor forcefitting with the flange, whereby any permanent deformation ofeither the outer end of the tube or the cap through 1 fatigue ofmaterial, and consequent impairment of the seal, are obviated. Further,this object includes the provision of a tube and a cap, and means forholding the latter when in removed condition captive to the tube, withthe tube and the cap, at least, made of material relatively inert toalkalis.

Another object is to provide a pouch of the class described which istransparent, as well flexible and resilient, which latter two propertiesare usually assumed to apply to pouches generally, whereby the contentsof the pouch may be seen through the walls thereof.

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Another, and practically self-evident, object is to provide acombination including a pouch, tube, cap, and means for holding thelatter when in removed condition captive to the tube, as describedabove, and a charge of an alkaline solution within the pouch.

These and other objects, features, and advantages of the invention willbe more fully understood from the following description, and from thedrawing.

In the drawing:

FIGURE 1 is a plan view of a preferred design of the pouch, empty, andshows the tube, cap, and the means for holding the latter captive to thetube, slightly in perspective.

FIGURE 2 is a greatly enlarged sectional view of the pouch, with somesolution indicated in it, the plane of the section and direction of theview according with the index 22 of FIGURE 1. FIGURE 2, to make possiblethe necessary enlargement, which shows the pouch structure, is alsonecessarily broken in the midportion of the figure to condense itwithout changing its scale.

FIGURE 3 shows, in a greatly enlarged side view, partly in section, thetube, which is broken to condense the figure without changing its scale,and the cap. The cap is shown in alignment with, but removed from theouter end of, the tube. The means for holding the cap, when removed,captive to the tube also appears. The elements of FIGURE 3 are showncompletely separated from the pouch.

The pouch 1.0 of the present invention, which, in one form, appears inplan, empty, in FIGURE 1 and with some (alkaline) solution 11 in it inFIGURE 2, a greatly enlarged sectional view wherein the plane of thesection and direction of the view accords with the index 22 of FIGURE 1,with FIGURE 2 broken in part for compactness without reducing theunusually large, and necessary, scale, has, besides the ordinarilyexpected properties of flexibility and resilience of pouches, bags, andsacs, generally, that of transparency so that the contents of the pouch,and the amount, coloration, cloudiness, etc., of the contained liquidmay be seen through the walls of the pouch. The pouch walls also have,and, as will be shown, should have, high flexibility and adequatetoughness and resistance to snagging and tearing, as well asconsiderable resilience; but the pouch walls are not required to haveany considerable elasticity. The pouch, of course, is essentiallyrequired to be proof against leakage and gaseous diffusion, and, on theoutside at least, to be inert to alkalis.

Transparency of the pouch walls is a desired feature of the inveniton,but not an indispensable feature, as the pouch, having the otherproperties mentioned herein, but

being opaque, or nearly so, would nonetheless be highly useful.

The properties of flexibility, resilience, toughness, resistance toleakage or to gaseous diffusion, and, internally at least, inertness toalkalis, are fundamental to the invention, the pouch may, in some of itsuses, be subject not only to ordinary hydrostatic pressures relating tothe weight of the contained liquid but also to considerable artificiallyinduced hydrostatic pressures due to mechanical forces applied to theoutside of the pouch, as well as subject to repeated squeezings,fiexings, and deformations. However, under expected conditions, thepouch walls are not required to be particularly elastic.

As a means for charging and discharging the pouch, the latter ispreferably provided with a sealable tube 12 (in FIGURE 1, partly inperspective; in FIGURE 2, greatly enlarged, separate from the pouch, andshown in a side view, partly in section and, to reduce the figure withreducing the scale, partly broken away; also, in FIGURE 2, one means forsealing the tube is also shown, and described below). That end of thetube adapted to join the pouch is provided with a thin centrifugalflange 13 of relatively great diameter; the outer or free end of thetube is provided with an internal flange 14. The general outsidediameter of the tube is uniform. The means for securing the whom thepouch is described in detail, below, in the description of the pouchstructure.

The means shown for sealing the tube is a removable hermetically-sealingcap 15 adapted to fit snugly over the outside of the tube at its outerend, and having, largely for convenience, an integral centrifugal flange16 to facilitate handling of the cap, and an integral concentric plug 17therein for force-fitting with the internal flange 14 of the tube. Thecap is shown removed from but (for purposes of illustration) inalignment with the tubein FIGURE 3 (see above). The cap also appears inperspective in FIGURE 1, and is shown sealing the tube.

The tube and the cap are preferably made of a relativelyalkali-impervious substance (see below); a desirable, but dispensable,property of this substance, is transparency to some degree; essentialproperties include flexibility and resilience; and the tube and capshould have enough mass to guarantee adequate mechanical strength. Thepurpose of the internal flange 14 of the tube 12 and of the structure ofthe cap 15 and its plug 17 which enables the cap to fit snugly over theoutside of the tube at its outer end and the plug to fit within the tubeand, in effect, to lock with its internal flange, is to prevent anypermanent deformation of either the tube or its sealing means throughfatigue of material, and consequent impairment of the seal.

So that the cap 15 may be protected to a degree against accidental losswhen it is removed from the outer end of tube 12, as shown specificallyin FIGURE 3, an integral radial arm 18 having at its outer end a loop 19adapted to fit snugly around the outside of the tube as shown in FIGURES1 and 3, extends from flange 16.

When the cap is removed from the outer end of tube 12, that portion ofthe tube, being smoothly cylindrical, may readily be attached, byinsertion, to any apparatus with which it may be desired to associatethe pouch.

Another means for sealing and unsealing the tube may obviously beselective application and withdrawal of ex ternal forces tending tocollapse the tube.

The pouch hereof, one'embodiment of which appears in FIGURES 1 and 2,being desired to be transparent, and required to be flexible, resilient,tough, and proof against leakage and gaseous diffusion, as set forthabove, and to be at least internally relatively inert to the alkalinesolution it is intended to, and as part of the invention, does contain,is preferably made of a bonded three-ply laminate film of colorless asWell as transparent plies, the innermost being of material relativelyinert to alkalis, the intermediate being of material of relatively hightensile strength, and the outermost of material of high resistivity togaseous difiusion.

The pouch may be a rectangular envelope, as best shown in FIGURE 1. Thisdesign is convenient for packaging and for use with certain photocopyand diffusiontransfer apparatus. The innermost ply of the pouch (seeabove) is desired to be not only relatively inert to alkalis, but of asubstance bondable to itself in the presence of heat. For reasons setforth below the tube 12 and cap are desirably made of the samesubstanceas that of the innermost ply of the pouch.

A most convenient way to make the pouch (particularly in the formillustrated in FIGURES 1 and 2) is circularly to perforate (see below) arectangular bonded three-ply laminate film, or sheet, of thecharacteristics mentioned above; to insert the prospective outer end ofthe tube 12 through the perforation from that side of the film, orsheet, which is the ply, or lamina, relatively inert to alkalis, and tomove the film, or sheet, and the tube relatively until the centrifugalflange 16 abuts that ply; to heat-seal together the flange and that partof the ply that it abuts; to fold the film, or sheet, once upon itselfalong a transverse line midway between opposite edges thereof so thatthe last mentioned ply, or lamina, is on the inside of the fold; andperipherally to heat-seal the once-folded film, or sheet, to itselfexcept along the fold line. It is of considerable convenience that theperforation is made on the prospective fold line.

Another way to make the pouch, as is obvious and unillustratedmodification of the pouch of FIGURES 1 and 2, is circularly to perforatea film of the characteristics described; to insert the tube, as above;to move the film and tube relatively, as above; to heat-seal togetherthe centrifugal flange and that'part of the ply it abuts, as above;juxtaposing flatwise and in congruency the film and another film likethe first named was prior to perforation with the relativelyalkali-impervious plies of the two films in contact; and peripherally toheat-seal the films together. This modification of the pouch, Whileentirely workable, is not as convenient for the purposes hereof as thepouch of FIGURES 1 and 2.

It will be recalled that the inside ply of the pouch, made either way,as suggested above, as well as the tube and the cap (see above) are ofthe same material.

The pouch of FIGURES 1 and 2 is heat-sealed along the dotted lines 20,21 and 22. The first two lines are practically at opposite edges of thepouch and normal to the fold line 24. Line 22 is parallel to and nearthe congruent edges of film, opposite the fold line, and for specialreasons (see below) heat-sealed again along dotted line 23. The pouchproper is defined, in FIGURE 1, by the fold line 24, and heat-seal lines20, 21, and 22. The marginal portion of the film between heat-seal line22 and edges opposite the fold line is provided as a specialconvenience;'it is not essential to the invention, and is usefulprincipally for attaching the pouch to certain apparatus (not shown).

In actual practice the bonded three-ply laminate film from which thepouch is preferably made is so thin (example: 26 mils, or .0026 of aninch) that the plies, or laminae, cannot be distinguished by the unaidedeye if the film is viewed edgewise. The weight of the empty pouchtogether with the tube and the cap may be in the neighborhood of anounce. The weight of the empty pouch proper is nearly impalpable; thetube and the cap are slightly heavier.

Laminate structure of the film being incapable of illustration in FIGURE1, it is shown in FIGURE 2, wherein the film is designated 25 (arrow)and is in cross-section, and wherein the scale is necessarily soexaggerated that the figure is unavoidably out-of-drawing. The innermostply of the film is indexed 26; the intermediate ply 27; and theoutermost ply 28. An alkaline solution appears only in this figure(index 11, above). Certain visible heat-seal lines are given apporpriatereference numerals. The direction of view in FIGURE 2 accords with theindex 22 of FIGURE 1.

In comformity With the foregoing, the pouch is preferably formed as abonded three-ply laminate film, the plies, or laminae, of which arepreferably made of the following materials:

(1) The innermost ply 26 is of polyethylene. This compound is relativelyinert to alkalis; is available as a colorless transparent foil havingadequate flexibility and resilience; and is readily heat-scalable toitself. However,

polyethylene foil does not have suificient tensile strength] towithstand the expected hydrostatic pressures developed in the containedalkaline solution; and, further, the compound absorbs oxygen from theatmosphere, and as a foil, permits the gas'to reach the solution at anaccelerated rate, and absorption of oxygen by the solution deterioratesit.

(2) The intermediate ply 27 is of polyethylene terephthalate. Thiscompound has relatively high tensile strength; and is available as acolorless transparent foil having adequate flexibility and resilience.

(3) The outermost ply 23 is of a polyvinylidene chloride. This compoundhas relatively high resistivity to gaseous diffusion, and is accordinglya good shield against oxygen of the atmosphere; and is also available asa colorless transparent foil having adequate flexibility and resillence.

Given the foregoing choice of materials, in the order named, the Wall ofthe pouch is relatively alkali-impervious on the inside where it is incontact with the solution, intermediately of relatively high tensilestrength, and relatively of high resistance to gaseous diffusion on theoutside where it is in contact with ambient atmospheric oxygen; and thewall is further colorless, transparent, and adequately flexible andresilient, and quite sufliciently elastic for its needs.

The tube and the cap are preferably of molded polyethylene. Accordingly,the centrifugal flange 13 of the tube may be readily heat-sealed to theinnermost ply of the pouch wall. On account of the properties offlexibility and resilience of the compound the tube may be bent asrequired, the seal between the tube and the cap may be literally undertension and therefore quite reliable, the arm 18 may be bent asrequired, and the loop 19 may engage the outside of the tube undersuflicient tension to prevent disengagement under normal circumstances.The wall of the tube, and the entire cap, may be sufficiently thick sothat they have all required mechanical strength as well as adequateresistivity to permeation by ambient atmospheric oxygen. And, of course,both the tube and the cap have, like the polyethylene ply of the pouchwall, relatively high impermeability to alkalis; but, it will beunderstood, the tube may be expected to have infrequent contact with thealkaline solution, and the cap practically no contact. The solutionwithin the pouch is not normally under externally applied pressures whenthe cap is serving as a seal, and at such times the liquid willordinarily neither contact the inside of the tube or the cap.

The invention includes the combination of a quantity of an alkalinesolution, for sale or use, or both, packaged in the present pouch andsealed by the cap.

What is claimed is:

1. The combination of a pouch for containing an alkaline solutionsusceptible of aerial oxidation, the pouch being in the form of agenerally rectangular envelope made of three-ply laminate, film,peripherally heat-sealed along three of its side edges, the side wallsof said envelope being continuous with each other along the fourth sideedge, the innermost ply being of material relatively inert to alkalinesolutions, the intermediate ply being of material of relatively hightensile strength, and the outermost ply being of material of relativelyhigh resistivity to gaseous diffusion; a tube extending from the pouchat its continuous side edge, the tube being made of the same material asthat of the innermost ply and passed through the outermost andintermediate plies, the inner end of said tube being provided with anannular flange which is also made of the same material as the innermostply, said flange being heat-sealed to said innermost ply, the outer endof the tube being provided with a closure to prevent escape of thecontents of the pouch.

2. A pouch in accordance with claim 1, wherein the innermost ply, thetube, and the annular flange at the inner end of said tube are made ofpolyethylene, the intermediate ply being made of polyethyleneterephthalate and the outermost ply being made of polyvinylidenechloride.

3. A pouch in accordance with claim 1, in which all of the plies aremade of transparent plastics through which the contents of the pouch maybe viewed, the innermost ply comprising a polyethylene film havinginsuflicient tensile strength to withstand such hydrostatic pressures asare developed in the contained alkaline solution in the normal use ofsaid pouch, the intermediate ply being a polyethylene terephthalate filmof sufiicient tensile strength to withstand such hydrostatic pressures,and the outermost ply being a polyvinylidene chloride film whichprotects the intermediate and innermost plies against atmosphericoxygen.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,679,969 Richter June 1, 1954 2,815,896 Shapero Dec. 10, 1957 2,861,718Winzen Nov. 25, 1958 2,956,671 Cornwell Oct. 18, 1960 2,958,419 KaelbleNov. 1, 1960 2,977,264 Shapero et al Mar. 28, 1961 3,017,302 HultkransJan. 16, 1962 FOREIGN PATENTS 233,257 Australia Feb. 25, 1960

1. THE COMBINATION OF A POUCH FOR CONTAINING AN ALKALINE SOLUTIONSUSCEPTIBLE OF AERIAL OXIDATION, THE POUCH BEING IN THE FORM OF AGENERALLY RECTANGULAR ENVELOPE MAKDE OF THREE-PLY LAMINATE, FILM,PERIPHERALLY HEAT-SEALED ALONG THREE OF ITS SIDE EDGES, THE SIDE WALLSOF SAID ENVELOPE BEING CONTINUOUS WITH EACH OTHER ALONG THE FOURTH SIDEEDGE, THE INNERMOST PLY BEING OF MATERIAL RELATIVELY INERT TO ALKALINESOLUTIONS, THE INTERMEDIATE PLY BEING OF MATERIAL OF RELATIVELY HIGHTENSILE STRENGTH, AND THE OUTERMOST PLY BEING OF MATERIAL OF RELATIVELYHIGH RESISTIVITY TO GASEOUS DIFFUSION; A TUBE EXTENDING FROM THE POUCHAT ITS CONTINUOUS SIDE EDGE, THE TUBE BEING MADE OF THE SAME MATERIAL ASTHAT OF THE INNERMOST PLY AND PASSED THROUGH THE OUTERMOST ANDINTERMEDIATE PLIES, THE INNER END OF SAID TUBE BEING PROVIDED WITH ANANNULAR FLANGE WHICH IS ALSO MADE OF THE SAME MATERIAL AS THE INNERMOSTPLY, SAID FLANGE BEING HEAT-SEALED TO SAID INNERMOST PLY, THE OUTER